Tag Archives: Zone defense

For many teams having a Zone Offense is just part of a good plan in preparing for all the challenges of a game situation. In some circumstances, teams might even have two or three different offenses, or variations of offenses to deal will all the possible zone defence challenges anticipated. So what is to be done when all of these options come up short against a zone defence? What is a coach and team to do in these situations…

When things seem to be hitting a wall and nothing is working reflect back on these principles of play to try and find the fix.

Characterise the Zone Defence

Reassess what type of Zone Defence the team is facing. Analyse the formation, where offensive space is on the court, where are the seams in the zone defence and where should players should position themselves at the start of the offense.

Varying the position of players before the zone offense starts can increase the gap or seams in the zone defence. This might be all that is need to create just enough space in the defence for good scoring opportunities to be created. It should be noted that within most offense’s players can be shifted marginally so not to affect the overall movement or flow of the offense.

If the zone offense is the right one to be matched against the defence then look to what other reasons might be contributing to the poor execution of the offense/offensive output.

Vary the tempo

When facing a zone defence sometimes a team can try to take the first opportunity that presents itself. Regardless of if, this is within the players shooting range. After successive missed opportunities, this can create pressure both for the individual and also for the team. In these instances, the offense should be slowed to allow players time to find the right shooting opportunity for themselves and the team as a whole.

One option to slow the offense is to ask players to utilise fakes when they have the ball in their hands. Upon catching the ball players should square up to the basket, using a shot fake or jab step to create space and engage the defender so to slow the offense without stalling it.

Another option is the speed up the offense by looking to place more importance on finding a shot during the fast break, primary or secondary transition phases. Sometimes expressed as an eight-second offense this does not allow the defence to set-up and find its normal structure.

Move on Passes

Because of the nature of a zone defence, when the ball is passed into or around the keyway the individual defensive players tend to collapse towards the ball. This clogs the possible options of the interior player and assists with the defenders being able to play an over active role in help defence.

To combat this situation and turn this stifling type of play into an advantage the offense, players who after passing into the post (high or low) must relocate to space for catch and shoot opportunities. If the shot is within the players range and they are well prepared with good foot position and balance then these shooting opportunities can be very effective in forcing change in a zone defence.

Screening will help create mis-matches and close to the basket scoring opportunities for a zone offense provided screeners are prepared to seal (Photo: Jeramey Jannene)

Focus on Screeners as Targets

Within most types of zone offense screening is used as a feature for players to break from of their defender or create space to work within. When a zone offense is working well the main aim is for the cutter to be the intended primary scoring target. However, if an offense starts to misfire then often the screener can become a much utilise option to help create points.

For interior players this might see the screener sealing on the screened player. Another option is for the interior player to screen away from the ball and establish a good position so when the ball is reversed they are a good target.

For perimeter players screening can lead to screen and pop, or screen and fade situations where being two passes away from the ball when setting the screen allows for the defence to be pulled away from their position on the floor enough to create a well-timed, uncontested shot.

Freeze and Gap Dribbling

Another option when reviewing a team’s failing zone offense is to look to the technique of using gap or freeze dribbles to condense the defence into certain sections of the half court so other areas become more open.

Two well-executed freeze or gap dribbles in a row on the perimeter will always lead to an open shot or interior scoring opportunity away from where the first dribble was taken. For example if the ball is first utilised in a freeze dribble situation on one wing, then the player who is two passes away will eventually have a scoring opportunity. Provided the players between them and ball utilise a freeze or gap dribble to condense the defence.

A well prepared zone offense is not guarantee of scoring opportunities being easy to come by. Nevertheless, a well-drilled team will be able to adapt to the challenges faced and vary their style of play enough to find a rhythm again.

A Baseline Out of Bounds situation can be very challenging to defend and one strategy to limit the options available to an offensive team is to employ a Zone Defence. A zone defence brings a number of positives to a team’s defensive orientation in the half court. Some of these benefits can carry over to out-of-bounds scenarios. The effectiveness however of a zone defence is underpinned, like all defences, on the team’s ability to implement the defensive principles to their most effective end. Without every player on the floor participating and playing their part, a zone defence will still be ineffective just as much as any other defence.

Simplicity

Either in a Zone Defence or Man-to-Man; The player guarding the inbounder should position themselves so they are in between the passer the basket. By doing this they make a lob our pass into the keyway harder to execute (Photo Source: Jeramey Jannene)

For defensive sides struggling to maintain good spacing and marking during an inbounding situation a zone defence can be a good alternative. Because a zone defence allocates certain positions on the court as well as giving very specific roles to each player. Each individual is more likely able to perform their expected role to a higher level of competence. The free-flowing nature of man-to-man defence can sometimes confuse players especially against tactical elements like screen the screener and players screening to get free. Utilising a zone defence takes away some of this uncertainty against a baseline situation and plants defenders into specific roles.

Less Moving Parts

A zone defence by its nature as described above has less movement because defensive players are reacting to activity in their area, not just simply the individual player movement of whom they are matched up against. Less movement by individual defenders should see an improvement in vision (provided players are still maintaining lines of sight), reaction time (provided players are in a ready stance) and decision-making. If this is not the case, and a team’s zone defence is still ineffective against a baseline play. It might be time to focus on individual defensive awareness and technique.

Less movement does not equal not being defensively aware. Zone defenders still need to be accountable to knowing where the shooters are and other key players respective to their areas of responsibility on the court.

Condenses Defenders

A reduction in the space between defenders is also another benefit of implementing a zone defence against a baseline out-of-bounds play. Baseline plays nearly always have a theme of creating a shooting opportunity if the X’s and O’s play out right. For a majority of these players the primary and secondary scoring options happen around or in the keyway. Employing a zone defence brings players into the keyway and floods this area of the court with bodies. Provided players look to shut down passing lanes by being active in defence they should be able to reduce the margin for an opportunity to occur.

One of the constant problems with this line of thinking concerning a zone defence is that individual defenders still need to be active. Too many times a team switches to a zone defence, and then the individuals fail to remain active and disciplined in employing defensive principles. Using a zone defence is not about resting individuals, it is just a different tactic.

Rebounding

Player’s proximity to the basket will decrease in a zone defence. This must be seen as an advantage for players to initiate and establish defensive positioning when rebounding. Again, this is reliant on players taking up this advantage and not seeing it is a fore gone conclusion that because they are closer to the basket they are entitled to the ball.

A zone defence can be very effective against a particularly potent offense generated when inbounding from the baseline. The zone defence can also be used as a way of bluffing a team into setting up in their zone offense before changing to man-to-man. This can be a useful strategy during an inbound to help players match-up and slow the tempo at which the offense is running.

A well executed Zone Defence can help teams with elements such as Doubling or Trapping (Photo Source: jmrosenfeld)

A Zone Defence is just one of a large array of options that a coach has during a game. If you do not have an “array of options” then you probably need to think about how you will manage a wider range of situations defensively. A Zone Defence, like all defences has strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the type of defence implemented there will be certain tactical situations in which you will use this strategy to put opponents at a disadvantage. No matter the formation or tactics, there are some times though during a game when a “Zone” can be a good option to change to.

Opposition is on a Scoring Run

If an opposition is continuing to pull away from your team during a game then a switch in the defensive strategy might be the catalyst for something to happen. Of course, calling a time out and refocusing the team around the current strategy is an option as well, but sometimes a change can break the rhythm of the opposition.

Most teams utilise a man-to-man defence as the primary weapon and Zone Defence works best as a rotation defence. By using a Zone Defence sparingly, an opposition will struggle with the free form of a man-to-man defence and then the structure of a Zone Defence. Exposing an opposition in this way also creates the option for a coach to extend the use of the Zone Defence longer if the impacts to offensive output are ongoing.

Extending into the Full Court

A Zone Defence in the quarter court works very well when paired with a similarly structured full court defence such as a zone press. If a team is looking to push their opponents further up the floor then the use of a Zone Defence might be the answer. Being able to collapse back into a familiar structure can sometimes be a struggle for teams when rotating out of the full court back to the half court when using a man-to-man defence. Having a set structure like a Zone Defence often helps with this transition.

Trapping in the Half Court

Trapping can often be a challenging scenario especially in a man-to-man defence. Players become confused on where they should be or what they could be doing. Providing the structure of a Zone Defence can overcome this confusion as players have more clearly defined roles and locations to fill within the defence. These roles are not only relevant to a position on the court, but the other players on their team as well. This makes it easy for players to be able to recognise the play as it is unfolding in front of them.

Players in Foul Trouble

One of the key features of most Zone Defences is that they work on the principle of having two or three lines of defence between the ball and the basket. This means that there are one or two lines of help defence to assist the player match-up against the ball handler at any one time. For this reason, a player who is experiencing some difficulty with foul trouble can be “hidden” to some degree within a Zone by being placed off the ball and in one of the help defence positions.

Slowing the Tempo of the Game

A Zone Defence can be used to also slow the tempo of a game. This however is based upon the assumption that the opposition is having trouble scoring against the Zone Defence or that they have not seen it regularly enough to be comfortable with playing structured offense against it. Switching to a Zone Defence can have the effect of making the opposition pull up and try to do something special against the defence. In some cases, coaches will even call a time out to plan what course of action to take.

The situations described above will not be the only exclusive element that leads to success when using a Zone Defence. The defence itself still needs to be effectively implemented on the floor for the play to be carried out. The more effective a Zone Defence is, the more it can be used regularly and with greater confidence of it standing the offensive onslaught of an opposition. This confidence will be highly valuable in focusing the team’s effort and energy into the defence.

Fine-tuning a Zone Offense can be a very challenging task for players and their coaches. Many coaches tend to focus on the pattern of executing a team offense against a zone, rather than breaking down the individual roles within the offense. The key to being able to break down a zone offense is making each movement within any offensive structure a possible scoring opening.

One of the common issues in regards to utilising an effective zone offense is to be able to create scoring opportunities early. All too often zone offenses are overly complicated and take many movements in the set-up of the offense for a situation where there is a scoring option. In these situations, it means because of the significant amount of movement that the chance of a turnover or problem with execution is increased.

One aspect that is very important to focus upon when analysis a team’s zone offense is to look at the interior players and their ability to seal on the reversal of the ball. In many situations the defence plays in such a way that they stop the initial scoring opportunity by overplay the offensive player who is around or in the keyway. This type of behaviour though by the defence results in other opportunities becoming available when the ball is reversed to the other side of the floor if the offensive player is smart.

What generally happens though, is an offensive player panics when their original movement is blocked. This results in the player often becoming frustrated and then fighting their way trying to reach their originally intended position. In many instances if the offensive player is too aggressive in this activity they will cause an offensive foul or disrupt the flow of the offense to the point that it completely breaks down.

The importance of showing composure in waiting of the offensive advantage is vital for an interior player in being able to play both side of offense in the half court. All too often interior players become robotic in their movements instead of reading what the defence is offering them. When a defensive player blocks a post player cut, then what they are doing is telling that player that there will be an opportunity later on within the offense in another position.

Zone Offense: Interior Players Sealing on Ball Rotation Diagram 1

In the diagram above the interior offensive player’s (Five) progress is stopped by the defensive player (Four). In this situation, the offensive player has three options:

Fight through the defensive players attempts to reach the desire strong side offensive position

Replace back to where the cut was originally started from at the weak side low post

Flash to the high post weak side

The first option in this scenario is like the one mentioned earlier which only mostly results in negative consequences for the team. However, the other two options provide opportunities later on in the offensive scheme.

Zone Offense: Interior Players Sealing on Ball Rotation Diagram 2

By lying in wait within a zone offense, an offensive player can then look to deep seal as the ball is being reversed exposing the opportunity presented by the defence in isolating them on the weak side of the floor in an attempt to starve the offensive player (Five) of opportunity initially.

Five (5) must make sure that after firstly making contact that they” burry” into the defensive player so they are always working their way under the basket and the best possible offensive opportunity at the front of the basketball hoop.

When playing within a zone offense structure is important to achieve an advantage. Nevertheless, mindless robotic action by individuals only weakens the structure of the offense and fails to create advantage at the individual level. Teams must be focused on not only the zone offense, but the individual breakdowns for each player within this offense.

A Zone Defence can be a wonderful thing when it is working. However, it can be just as effective in proving easy scoring opportunities for a team’s opposition if not executed well. Execution is one thing and knowing when use the zone defence efficiently is another. There are some fundamental reasons why a zone defence might not be working and with a little attention to detail these once significant problems can be overcome with ease.

A breakdown in a team’s zone defence can happen for many reasons. Being well drilled and attentive to detail will help limit the causes for these problems (Photo Source: Christopher Connell)

Players do not Understand their Roles

It is not uncommon for players to not understand fully their role within the zone defence. This happens more prevalently in the earlier parts of the season. Nevertheless, this will happen as well if a team has not practiced and drilled the various situations that happen in games from time to time.

Over the course of a season the basics of how a zone defence operates will be implemented early on in the piece. What is important then is to start to introduce players to difficult situations which might break down the zone defences rotations or structure. By doing this a coach will help keep players interested with fresh content, but also build competence in their players ability to play under difficult or pressure situations.

Not aware of Shooters

Not knowing who the threats are to a zone defence will eventually lead to trouble. For many zone defences the common issue is competent outside shooting. A coach must be very active in scouting to identify these types of threats then passing this information onto players.

The players then need to be active in identifying these targets to one another during general play. Players off the ball have the greatest responsibility in verbalising where these offensive threats are. Players as they become familiar with how the rotations work should start to know who will be guarding the shooters as the ball moves around the half court. This will mean this defensive player should be able to anticipate the threat and place him or herself in a good position to pressure the shooter.

Players are not Boxing Out

A very common issue within a zone defence is boxing out is not performed as well as it could be. Teams find that because individuals are allocated areas of responsibility defensively, the player therefore feel unless there is an offensive player in their area that they do not have to box out. In most cases, this is not the case and defensive players should still match-up to box out and secure the possession.

To overcome this issue a focus needs to be placed upon this responsibility during five on five situations or breakdowns in training. Verbal communication will also assist those defensive players who have too many offensive targets in their area to box out everyone and require some help from teammates.

Understand where the Opposition is getting their Points from

All zone defence’s have strengths and weaknesses. They allow certain shots from certain positions, but limit scoring opportunities from others. A good offensive opposition will continue to evolve their play against a zone defence in an attempt to find the weakness and they try to exploit it.

For the zone defence when points are being scored with regular ease, there needs to be some analysis of where the points are being scored from. A coach and there assistants need to be mindful of not only what is going wrong, but why it is happening. In doing so a coach can identify what variations need to be made to the team’s tactics and then counter the offensive team’s efforts.

Use a Different Zone to Achieve Different Results

As stated earlier a zone defence will have specific weaknesses. It a team cannot make changes to their tactics to overcome these, then they will need to change their strategy. By having a couple of defensive zone options a team can change between both depending on what is demanded from the situation.

If having another zone defence option is not suitable solution, then specific tactics need to be implemented to change the zones weakness, into a strength. If not then a team must recognise when to rotate to another defensive strategy so they do not overplay the defence and waste precious opportunities to exploit the weaknesses of their opposition.